


Not that time in Malta

by Sorran



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Joe is hurt and Nicky loses his shit, M/M, Missions Gone Wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:01:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25864798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorran/pseuds/Sorran
Summary: They've completed the mission, all the high tech and highly illegal equipment inside the secret bunker in the arse end of nowhere, northern Africa, is destroyed, and they are on their way out when everything goes to hell in a handbasket.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 22
Kudos: 378
Collections: Old Guard Discord Server Prompt Jamboree





	Not that time in Malta

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [Drake](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drake/pseuds/Drake) in the [TheOldGuardPrompts](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/TheOldGuardPrompts) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Could be mission!fic, could be post-movie or pre, I just wanna see joe get hurt and Nicky go feral over the people who hurt him, and then just take care of him and make sure he's okay. Anywhere from cooking for/cuddling with to stripping down in the bath to make sure the wounds are all gone (or more S;)).
> 
> \- Thank you to [April Valentine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/April_Valentine/pseuds/April_Valentine) for looking over this and giving me feedback!

They've completed the mission, all the high tech and highly illegal equipment inside the secret bunker in the arse end of nowhere, northern Africa, is destroyed, and they are on their way out when everything goes to hell in a handbasket. Joe's just stretched out his hand to push open the door to the stairwell when it is yanked back from the other side. The stakkato burst of rifle fire catches Nicky completely by surprise, and then Joe is on the floor, screaming in pain.

In a split-second Nicky takes in the half dozen holes peppering the abdomen of Joe's vest, the rapidly spreading blood stains - _too close, too close,_ his brain clamors - and after that he doesn't think. His vision goes a little fuzzy around the edges, and all sound is reduced to an insistent buzzing in his ears, but the details are clear enough. 

The hand that pulled the trigger. The eye that dared target _his_ Joe. The throat that ordered "Fire!". They all disappear in a red mist as Nicky obliterates the man they belong to with precise, efficient slashes of his sword before setting his sights on the next man in line. 

There are hands trying to ward off his approach, a mouth babbling frantically, and feet that hastily try to retreat. They stumble over the bottom step of the stairs; the man goes down, and Nicky makes sure he won't get back up again. 

The third and fourth have made it further up the stairs when Nicky catches up with them, and aren't facing him. One falls in the middle of the stairs, head nearly separated from his neck, the other one crumples near the top, blood gushing from where Nicky has cut him down at the back of the knees. Nicky sends his gun clattering down the stairs with a swift kick, and rushes up the last few steps to the surface, where the fifth man is trying to put his cardio to good use. Bursting out of the access hatch after him, Nicky barrels into the man like a freight train, and they both go down in a small dust cloud. While Nicky loses his hold on his sword in the tangle of flailing limbs, the man manages to swing his gun around and shoots Nicky in the shoulder, but the impact barely registers. Nicky has his eyes firmly fixed on the sliver of exposed flesh where the other man's tac vest has ridden up; he rips the knife from the sheath at the man's hip, sinks it in and twists, before yanking it back out to slit the man's throat for good measure. 

Dropping the knife, Nicky shakily climbs to his feet, breath coming hard and fast. He should've gone first, not Joe. Those bullets should've hit him, not Joe. Joe should never have been in the line of fire. 

Joe.

Nicky stumbles back to the open hatch in the ground and the stairwell leading down into the bunker. Andy meets him at the top; she's talking to him, but it takes Nicky a moment or two to make out what she's saying:

"... any more?"

"What?" Nicky shakes his head, and things slowly come back into focus. 

Andy frowns at him. "I said, are there any more of them. Where did they come from?" she repeats impatiently. "We were only down there for five minutes max, we should've seen them approach before we went in. How did they get the drop on us?"

Nicky looks around sheepishly. Andy's right. The landscape is as flat as a pancake, they should've seen anyone approaching from miles away. But he hadn't even thought to check for further troops or vehicles in his rage and worry. 

"Keep it together, Nicky", Andy warns him with a scowl, interpreting his look correctly. "Joe'll live, but we still have to make it to the extraction point. I don't want any more surprises." She fixes him with a hard stare. "Go get Joe, and send Nile up here." 

"Yes, boss." Nicky slips past her, past the three corpses on the stairs and the one lying half in, half out of the doorway into the bunker proper. Well, roughly half of the body is on one side of the threshold, and the rest is scattered on the other side, anyway. 

Ignoring the mess, Nicky drops to his knees by Joe's side. Joe is curled up half on his side, half in Nile's lap, groaning; there is even more blood than before, and she is trying to stem the flow with her bare hands.

Nicky's blood turns to ice. 

"Joe?" he asks, ducking his head, frantically trying to catch his love's eyes.

Thankfully Nile catches on quickly. "Oh, no, Nicky, no, it's alright, he's healing", she reassures him hastily. Then she looks down at what she's doing, and after a moment of confusion, she removes her hands from Joe's wounds. "Sorry. Force of habit." Seeing the terror still on Nicky's face, she puts a hand on Nicky's shoulder and repeats: "He's healing, I promise." 

"Yeah, okay", Nicky says, dazedly, no longer looking at her. He reaches for one of Joe's hands, and although it's slick with Joe's blood, it also feels reassuringly warm and alive in his hands. Something in Nicky's chest gives, and he sags with relief.

Nile taps his arm, indicating that they should trade places, and Nicky shuffles around until he's supporting Joe's head and shoulders on his lap in her stead.

"Boss wants you upstairs", he says with a quick glance back up at Nile.

She nods, grabs her gun and steps over the severed limbs in the doorway with a grimace. Moments later her tread disappears up the stairs. 

Nicky looks down at Joe. "Come back to me, babe", he urges, freeing a hand to push some wayward curls out of Joe's face. 

"I haven't fucking left yet", Joe grunts between clenched teeth. 

Shit.

Nicky groans. Those are the worst times, when their bodies don't heal quickly, but don't immediately die, either, leaving them hanging somewhere in between until it goes one way or the other.

"Fucking gut shot", Joe pants. 

Nicky squeezes his hand, vision threatening to cloud again. Those assholes died way too quickly. 

"Boys, what's taking so long?" Andy's impatient voice echoes in the stairwell, snapping him out of it. "We need to go!"

"Coming, boss!" Nicky hollers back, hefting Joe up into his arms and shifting until he has one arm under Joe's shoulders, and the other under his knees. 

"I'm sorry", he apologises, and hauls Joe up off the floor with a grunt of effort. 

Joe moans.

Nicky hefts him up a little higher, until he's sure Joe is safely settled in his arms, then he makes for the stairs.

Andy's brow furrows when she sees Nicky carrying Joe.

"He's hovering", Nicky says curtly, and Andy swears. 

At Nile's questioning glance, she shakes her head. "We'll explain later. Let's go."

Nile gives a small shrug and bends down to pick up Nicky's discarded sword. "Lead the way", she says. 

The rendezvous point isn't that far by their usual standards - or at least it wasn't when based on the assumption they would all be able-bodied and walking under their own steam. Now, it seems unreasonably far.

Nicky would carry Joe to the ends of the earth if he had to, but that doesn't mean Joe's weight isn't making itself felt. It's hot, there's no time to stop and rest, and after the first half mile or so, Nicky is struggling to keep up the speed they need to be making to meet their pick-up at the agreed time. Joe seems to be getting heavier and heavier with each step, and Nicky grits his teeth both against the strain in his arms and the pain he's causing Joe as he has to keep hoisting him into a better grip.

At the mile marker, Joe goes slack, and Nicky stumbles, jarred out of the rhythm of putting one foot in front of the other, again, again, keep going, that he's been clinging to in his head. 

"Nicky?" Andy asks sharply.

"He's dead." Nicky barely glances down at Joe, fixing his eyes on the horizon instead as he wills his feet to keep moving. 

Joe will wake up, he will, and they still need to make their rendezvous. 

Nile's hand briefly settles on the back of Nicky's shoulder before she falls back to cover their rear again. 

When Joe jerks awake with a gasp, they're almost at the rendezvous point - completely indistinguishable from the expanse of sand and stones around them save for the GPS coordinates - and Nicky almost trips over his own feet in relief.

"I've got you, love, you're safe. We're almost there", he pants.

Joe curls a hand into the armhole of Nicky's vest with a groan. "Almost where?" he croaks. 

"Rendezvous."

Coughing, Joe lifts his head. "How long was I gone?" he asks, still sounding rough, but clearly surprised.

"Not long", Nicky shakes his head. "But you were hovering for a while."

Joe grunts something unintelligible in reply. 

"We're here", Andy's voice cuts in. She checks her watch, drops her backpack and starts rooting around. "Just in time." Her hand re-emerges with a couple of signalling smoke grenades, one of which she throws to Nile. Both women walk away a few paces before setting their grenades off.

As bright purple smoke starts billowing on either side of him, Nicky doesn't so much kneel down as sink to his knees in a controlled collapse. 

By the time the helicopter comes in to land, Joe is sitting up. Both he and Nicky shield their eyes against the sun and the dust, and then exchange a weary glance as they recognise a Soviet Mi-17 with several deep gauges in the desert camouflage paint, and a fading red star on the rear of the hold. Andy has always had the dodgiest contacts out of all of them by far. 

"Ready?" Andy shouts over the noise of the rotors.

"Ready!", Nile, Joe and Nicky confirm, and Nicky helps Joe up and over to the helicopter, boosting him in after Nile. 

The ride is just long enough for Joe to doze off, back to Nicky's chest, for once the small spoon to Nicky's big spoon.

The helicopter sets down next to a ramshackle hangar on a coastline. Andy duck-walks up to the pilot, hands over a wad of cash and receives two duffle bags in return that she passes on to Nile. Then she pats the pilot on the shoulder and thanks him in quick Tatar. He says something back to her that makes her face go carefully blank for a fraction of a moment, before she shrugs and comments: "Lucky fool", with a slightly forced laugh. The pilot laughs with her, then turns back to his controls, shaking his head and muttering about "stupid mercenaries", to go over his pre-flight check.

Nile, Joe, Nicky and Andy jump out of the helicopter as the rotors begin to pick up speed again, and run over to the hangar, keen to get out of the small dust storm the helicopter creates. Andy produces a key to a sun-bleached metal door that might have once been blue, set in the long side of the hangar facing their landing site; after a moment of wrestling with the lock, she wrenches the door open and ushers the other three inside. She follows them in and closes the door behind her with a clang.

There is a moment of complete silence, then Andy reaches for a row of light switches by the door, and banks of fluorescent lighting reluctantly buzz to life as the helicopter takes off with a whine of protesting turbines that quickly fades to the characteristic flap-flap-flap of rotors in flight, and then to nothing. 

"Thank fuck", Andy mutters and drops her pack where she stands. Nile sets down the two duffle bags and her own pack a little more carefully, and Nicky crowds Joe against the nearest wall. 

"Yusuf, love, are you alright?" he breathes before diving in to kiss Joe frantically, hands already busy with the fastenings of Joe's tac vest. Joe responds in kind, cupping Nicky's cheeks in his hands and letting his fingers thread into Nicky's hair, returning his kiss with fervour. 

"I'm fine", he reassures Nicky. "Hurt like a bitch, but I'm fine." He kisses Nicky one more time, then gently pushes him back to gain enough room to help with the removal of his vest. A number of mangled bullets drop to the floor as they pull away the destroyed front panel, and Nicky bends to pick them up. There are seven in total. Nicky stares at them for a moment, a small pile of metal in his hand, then he walks over to the growing heap of discard items Andy and Nile have started - to be disposed of before they leave - and drops them without a word.

"I'm gonna need a new vest", Joe greets him when he returns to his side, dropping the back panel to join its other half on the floor. 

Nicky shakes his head. "No shit." He reaches for the hem of Joe's shirt and tugs it up, encouraging Joe to lift his arms so he can pull it up and off. The shirt lands on the floor, too, and Nicky runs his hands over Joe's blood-smeared abdomen. 

"Nicky, I'm fine", Joe reminds him. "Just…" He looks down at himself and grimaces at the tacky blood on his stomach. "Urgh. I need a shower."

"That's gonna have to wait until we get to the hotel", Andy calls over. She's already divested herself of her dust-covered combat gear and clothes, and is in the process of folding up everything that's salvageable.

"Not necessarily", Nile disagrees. "Check the bags." She indicates the two duffle bags with a tilt of her chin. 

Andy watches with interest as Nicky goes to crouch down by the bags and opens first one - this one's for Nile and Andy, judging by the size of the shirts on top - and then the other. Nicky digs through the second bag for a while and then comes up with - 

"Wet wipes?" he asks skeptically, holding up a pack of generic travel wipes.

Andy bursts out laughing. 

"What", Nile defends herself. "I'm sick of driving around covered in blood, even with fresh clothes on. It's disgusting."

"She has a point", Joe remarks mildly.

"Damn right I do", Nile nods. She shoots Andy a glare that makes the older woman snort before they both return to their tasks.

Shrugging, Nicky throws the wipes to Joe, then picks up the duffle and carries it over. He's looking out fresh pants, shirts and trousers for both of them when an irritated noise from his partner makes him squint up at the silhouette of Joe outlined against the light of the fluorescent tube above their heads. 

"This is like washing with tissues", Joe complains, wiping at the dried blood on his stomach, two deep lines throwing a shadow between his brows.

Nicky puts the fresh clothes down and stands up. 

"Let me", he says. 

Joe hands the wipes over and takes the opportunity to check Nicky for damage while the other man is busy.

"You were shot", he notices.

"Hm?" Nicky replies absent-mindedly.

"There's a hole in your shirt, here." Joe pokes a finger into Nicky's right shoulder. 

"Oh, yeah." Nicky drops a bloody wipe and pulls a fresh one out of the pack. "Stabbed him in the gut and slit his throat."

Joe smiles. "You incurable romantic."

Nicky looks up from his task, a matching smile lighting up his face, and they kiss. 

"Get a room", Nile heckles them good-naturedly, pulling a deep purple shirt over her head. 

Joe and Nicky huff into their kiss. "I hope so", Nicky whispers, before they separate again and he goes back to cleaning up Joe's stomach, his careful touches suddenly leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake.

Joe clears his throat. "Speaking of getting a room", he says, "how are we getting out of here, boss?"

Andy inclines her head toward the far corner of the hangar, where a tarp-covered vehicle is parked by a rolling garage door. "We're going for a drive", she explains. 

"I suppose it'd be asking too much that our getaway cars have AC every now and then, would it?" Nile says pointedly after half an hour on a bumpy dirt road. It's at least a hundred degrees inside the old jeep, and the hot air rolling in through the open windows brings little relief. 

Andy rolls her eyes. "This isn't a getaway car, it's a rental", she corrects. "We took a day out of business to see the sights, remember?"

"Fine", Nile shoots back. "We should've rented a car with AC."

Andy shrugs. "Next time you can organise the getaway car."

"Rental", Nile smirks.

Andy gives her a look out of the corner of her eye before focusing back on the road. "You're learning, kid", she smiles. 

"Mh", Nile hums noncommittally. She glances up at the rearview mirror to find Joe and Nicky dozing, leaning into each other's space and Nicky's arms once more around Joe despite the heat. Nile lowers her voice. "So this hovering thing", she asks, "what's that all about?"

"It's when we - you", Andy interrupts herself, "when you're too badly injured for your body to heal quickly, but not bad enough to die instantly. You just sort of hover", Andy takes her right hand off the steering wheel and wiggles it in the air, palm down, "until your body either does heal, or you die." She glances back at the two men in the backseat via the rearview mirror, too. "It's usually fucking painful, and damn inconvenient."

"That sucks", Nile notes.

Andy nods.

They lapse into silence. The dirt road eventually joins a tarmaced country road, barely wider than the dirt track and just as bumpy.

"What do they make roads out of, here?" Nile mutters. "Unevenly sized Lego bricks?"

Andy sends her a questioning look, but Nile waves her question off, and they fall silent again. 

Not long after that, the country road ends, and Andy turns onto an honest-to-God highway. Houses start to appear, at first just individual homes here and there, miles from the nearest neighbour, then suddenly there's house after house on either side of the road, and just like that, they're back in civilisation. 

"Better wake up the guys", Andy murmurs, and Nile twists in her seat to turn to the backseat and shake the nearest reachable body part, which happens to be Joe's knee.

Joe grumbles under his breath and twitches his knee out of reach, but just as Nile thinks she'll have to squeeze further between the seats to try and poke Nicky, Joe opens his eyes. It takes him a moment to orient himself, then he gently elbows Nicky.

"Nicky, babe, wake up." He turns and presses a quick kiss to Nicky's lips, then he starts squirming out of Nicky's arms. "We gotta look not gay."

Eyes still closed, Nicky grabs on to him and pulls him back in for another kiss. "Now we can look not gay", he says, opening his eyes. After glancing out of the window for a few moments, he groans.

"Tripoli, Andy? Really?"

Andy shrugs. "Nearest travel hub."

"Is that where we are?" Nile asks, just as Joe queries: "So what's the plan, boss?"

"Yes, we're in Tripoli", Andy confirms with a nod to Nile. "We're gonna check into a hotel, clean up properly, grab some food and some sleep, and get another car tomorrow morning", she adds, briefly locking eyes with Joe in the rearview mirror.

Nicky nods at her words, and Joe shrugs. "You're the boss, boss."

The hotel is nothing special, definitely not the Hilton, but the reception staff are friendly, and don't seem unduly curious. As always when they are in a place that isn't accepting of same-sex relationships, Nicky and Joe make sure not to stand too closely together while Joe checks them in, and once they've been handed two sets of keys, Andy and Nicky follow Nile and Joe to the elevator. 

"Forty-five minutes?" Andy asks when they separate on the fifth floor. 

Nicky and Joe nod, taking the left of the two adjacent rooms, and Andy follows Nile into the room on the right. 

"I'm sorry, Joe. I fucked up", Nicky apologises before the door has fully fallen closed behind them. 

Joe turns around to look at him. "Why do you think you fucked up?" he asks carefully, searching Nicky's face. 

Nicky lowers his head. "I should've gone first." His shoulders sag.

"And then what?" Joe asks calmly. "How would that have helped me?"

"You wouldn't have gotten hurt."

Joe shrugs. "Maybe. But then you would've gotten hurt, and I'd rather it was me than you." Before Nicky has a chance to say anything, he adds: "I know you feel the same way about it, love, so let's not argue about it, okay?" He closes the distance between them, cups Nicky's cheek with his hand and kisses him firmly, confident and secure enough for both of them. 

Nicky leans into the kiss, leans into Joe, his hands coming up to cup Joe's face, wordlessly saying 'I'm sorry', and 'I love you', and Joe melts into him, answering 'I know' and 'I love you, too'. 

This is how they find their equilibrium again, and they end the kiss only reluctantly, staying close, foreheads touching and sharing the same breath for long moments before separating just as reluctantly.

The hotel room, they note, is average in every way, the same standardised box as thousands of other hotel rooms around the world, but it's clean, it has a double bed and it'll do. 

Joe starts peeling off his clothes, throwing them haphazardly onto the bed, and heads into the tiny bathroom. 

"Join me in the shower?" he asks over his shoulder. 

Nicky nods even though Joe can't see it, and adds his clothes to the pile on the bed before grabbing the small toiletry bag from the duffle and stepping into the bathroom. 

His eyebrows pop up. "This is… uh." He looks around. All the expected things are there, a toilet, sink and shower, only the showerhead is practically above the toilet, and there is no shower cubicle. Not the same as most hotel bathrooms around the world.

"Yeah", Joe agrees. Then he shrugs. "Close the door."

Nicky does as he's told, puts the toiletry bag down by the sink, and Joe turns on the water. The mirror starts steaming up almost instantly, and Joe's expression brightens along with Nicky's. 

"That's what I'm talking about." Joe hums happily as he steps under the spray. The hot water feels so good running through his hair and over his shoulders, taking the day's sweat and dust with it, that he just stands there for a couple of minutes, enjoying the feeling. 

Nicky mostly gets wet by virtue of being in the same room rather than being under the shower - there isn't enough room for both of them to stand under the showerhead at the same time - but he waits patiently until Joe steps aside to make space for him.

"Oh god, that feels good", Nicky groans as the water hits him properly. Something taps him on the bicep, and he opens his eyes to find a travel-sized bottle of shampoo being shoved in his face.

"Thanks, babe", he says dryly, accepting the bottle. 

Joe winks at him, hands busy working up a lather in his hair. "Anytime, love", he grins.

They wash in silence, moving around each other with the ease of centuries of practice, more intent on getting clean than anything else at this point, until Joe declares himself finished and leaves the shower to Nicky, bending over the sink to brush his teeth instead. 

Nicky takes a moment to rinse the last of the shampoo out of his hair, and then he takes another moment to admire the view. 

The way Joe's hair curls in on itself, with the occasional stray curls escaping the mass, makes Nicky smile. The way Joe's muscles move under his skin, tensing and relaxing in turn, makes Nicky want to touch, and feel. The way Joe's glutes flex as he bends down to spit out surplus toothpaste - well.

It makes Nicky step closer to let his hands trail down Joe's sides until he can rest them on Joe's hips and pull the other man in to drop fervent kisses on the back of his neck and along his shoulders. 

Joe turns to face him with a hungry noise in his throat, pulling them flush and returning Nicky’s kisses with interest. His kisses start out light, loving, but soon turn sharp, biting and demanding. Nicky matches him kiss for kiss, until they are both panting and hard with want and need. 

“There anything in that bag?” Joe asks, barely moving his lips from Nicky’s skin to form the words. They usually have supplies in their safe houses, but this isn’t a safe house, and they draw the line at bringing lube on to missions.

Nicky draws back to lock at him. “You want?” he asks.

“Yeah”, Joe nods, underscoring his words with a roll of his hips. “I want.”

“Let me check”, Nicky mumbles, diving back in to suck a bruise into the side of Joe’s neck. He blindly reaches for the toiletry bag on the side of the sink and tips it out into the basin. “Niente”, he adds after a glance over Joe’s shoulder. 

Joe grinds into him with a groan. “There’s gotta be something we can use.” They have other ways to get off, of course, but right now he really wants to feel Nicky, wants Nicky to feel him, and he’s not willing to give up that quickly. He twists in Nicky’s arms, hissing when his cock comes into contact with the cold sink, and pushes his ass into Nicky’s groin to escape the sensation. 

Nicky holds onto his hips and grinds up against him while Joe scans the contents of the sink. Soap, shaving foam and toothpaste. Dismissing them all, Joe opens the mirror cabinet above the sink. Shower caps, more shower gel and shampoo, more soap and…

“Yes!” Joe plucks a small bottle off the top shelf and holds it up and over his shoulder to pass it to Nicky. 

Taking the bottle out of his hand, Nicky studies it briefly. “Beard oil?” he smirks.

“For the discerning gentleman”, Joe quotes the label with a toothy grin over his shoulder. Then he rests his hands on either side of the sink, drops his head and widens his stance to give Nicky better access.

Nicky wastes no time opening the bottle and coating his fingers with the oil. He presses himself against Joe’s back, splaying one hand on Joe’s stomach, whole and warm against his skin, and reaches down between Joe’s legs with the other.

Joe arches into his touch, welcoming Nicky with a sound that’s half hum and half groan, and closes his eyes to focus on feeling Nicky work him open. He loves how Nicky circles and twists his fingers, slipping into Joe to stroke him inside, and then turns the sensation into a delicious stretch on the way out. But he can only stand the teasing for so long.

“Now, come on”, Joe demands, and Nicky obliges, withdrawing his fingers to slick up his cock and guide himself in.

The noise Joe makes now is all groan. He breathes hard, that initial feeling of being filled on the brink of being too much, but Nicky holds on to him, blankets Joe with his body, and Joe relaxes around his heat, letting it light him up from the inside out.

“I love you”, Nicky murmurs into his ear, and then he starts thrusting, slowly, deliberately, moving with Joe, their bodies coming together again and again until Joe starts twitching and Nicky reaches for his cock to bring him to the edge and take him right over it. Joe comes with a bitten back shout, spilling over Nicky’s hand, and suddenly Nicky’s senses are full of him, here, alive, with him, hair tickling Nicky’s nose, muscles moving under his hands, skin smelling fresh and clean, seed hot on Nicky’s hand, and Nicky can finally let go. He pulls Joe impossibly closer and thrusts into him a little harder, a little faster, Joe reaching back to grip Nicky’s forearms in silent encouragement, until Nicky loses his rhythm and spends himself inside of him. 

“Where did those men come from, anyway?” Joe asks later, as the four of them sit at a table in a small seafood restaurant Nile found on Tripadvisor. The other customers are mostly locals, with only one other table hosting foreigners, a middle-aged couple speaking Catalan. 

“Another bunker, about 500 yards east of the main one”, Andy explains, spearing some rishda on her fork. “Looks like we tripped an alarm when we entered the main one.”

Nicky looks at her sharply. “But the intel said it wasn’t connected to any networks.”

Andy nods. “It wasn’t. It was just a local alarm, probably an underground wire running between the bunkers.”

Joe pushes his glass of sweet tea away from his plate and leans back in his chair. “Shouldn't we have seen the other bunker when we came in?”

“It was extremely well camouflaged.” Nile shrugs. “I didn’t see the hatch until I almost tripped on it. It looked like those guys stayed there for a while. Bunk beds, tvs, game consoles, and a heap of rations.”

“A rotating guard?” Joe suggests.

“Most likely”, Andy agrees. 

“One of us should’ve stayed topside while the rest of us went in”, Nicky says, not looking up from his food.

“No”, Andy shakes her head. “Wouldn’t have made any difference. We would’ve taken longer in the bunker, and at least one of us would’ve been gunned down anyway.” 

Nicky still doesn’t look up, but he doesn’t disagree, either. 

Their meal continues in silence for a few minutes, until Nile leans forward to look at Joe quizzically. “What’ve you done with your beard? Did you trim it? It looks... “, she gestures with her hands, casting about for an appropriate description, and eventually settles on “unusually well groomed.”

Nicky snorts into his soup.

“Beard oil”, Joe grins, the corners of his mouth twitching as Andy groans.

“For the discerning gentleman”, adds Nicky, eyes shining with mirth.

Nile looks back and forth between them, and then over to Andy, who is shaking her head with a long-suffering and somehow simultaneously fond expression on her face. 

“I think it looks nice”, Nile says, narrowing her eyes at Joe and Nicky.

“It does”, Nicky agrees readily enough, but Nile can’t help feeling that she’s missing a part of the conversation.

Their talk turns to other topics after that, the book Nicky plans to buy when they get to the next safe house - it's the final instalment in a series, apparently he's been waiting years for it to be published - the exhibition Joe wants to catch at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, Andy's disdain at having to see a dentist, until Nile has to admit defeat. 

"I don't know about you guys, but if you want me to get up at 5 am, I need to go to bed now", she announces, barely managing to hide her yawn.

"Why would we be getting up at 5 am?" Nicky asks, somewhere between alarmed and unhappy. “I thought we were getting a car.”

“We are”, Andy confirms. “But we've got a ferry to catch from Tunis tomorrow afternoon.”

Nicky suddenly looks suspicious, and Joe’s interest seems piqued, too. "A ferry from Tunis?” Nicky repeats. “Just where are we going, Andy?"

Andy’s mouth twitches as she says: "Malta."

"We're going to Malta", Joe echoes, disbelievingly.

With a positively shit-eating grin, Andy reiterates: "We're going to Malta."

Nile feels as if she’s watching a tennis match. "What happened in Malta?" she asks. 

"Which time in Malta?" Nicky asks, a little too innocently, but Nile supposes they must’ve been to Malta dozens of times, so it makes sense to ask.

Joe’s reply on the other hand makes a lot less sense. "Not that time in Malta!" he states firmly, giving Nicky an opaque look before signalling to the waiter that they wish to pay, and this time Nile is sure she’s missing a part of the conversation.

After a long drive, a ferry crossing, another drive and another ferry crossing that take a total of 26 hours, they finally step off the boat in Floriana, Malta. There are quicker and more direct ways to get there from Tripoli, but they travel with military grade weapons, and their roundabout route is harder to follow, should anyone try to do so. Still, there is a collective groan when Andy collects the keys to yet another hire car.

“Not far now”, she promises, and there’s that glint in her eye again.

Nile has given up trying to guess what’s going on; she figures she’ll find out soon enough.

True to her word, Andy pulls off the main road and onto a paved driveway after barely half an hour. The driveway winds around a hillside, and ends in front of a small cottage nestled in a copse of holly oaks.The house is small, and the way the trees have grown around it makes Nile think it has been here for a long time, although it seems in excellent repair. 

“It’s beautiful”, she says as she gets out of the car, taking in the serene, sun-soaked setting, “but isn’t it a little small for us?” She knows her new family likes to stay close together, but this place is going to be cramped even by their standards.

“Only Joe and Nicky are staying here”, Andy says, and it’s only then Nile notices the way Joe and Nicky are staring at the cottage, and that Andy has only taken the men’s bag and packs out of the car, while her and Nile’s things are still in the trunk.

“I thought we were gonna stay in Malta for a while?” Nile asks, confused. 

“We are”, Andy nods. “But you and I are going to stay on the other side of the island.” She turns to Nicky. “Here are the keys”, she says, pressing a set of keys into his unresisting hand, “the cupboards and the fridge should be fully stocked, come find us when you’re ready.” She nudges Nile back in the direction of the car. “Come on, kid, let’s get out of here. We’re not needed right now.”

Nile is more confused than ever, but she gets back in the car and buckles up. Andy does the same before smartly reversing the car so they’re facing the driveway again, then she lets down her window and leans out to shout: “Don’t break the bed again, and remember to eat!” as they accelerate back toward the road.

Joe and Nicky wave half-heartedly, but their eyes are already on each other. 

"D'you remember that time in Malta?" Nicky asks smugly.

"What time in Malta?" Joe inquires, not unreasonably, he thinks. 

Nicky takes his face into his hands and nuzzles Joe’s ear. "This time in Malta", he murmurs.

"Oh, THIS time in Malta”, Joe smiles and meets Nicky for a long, deep kiss, like coming home. 

When they meet up with Nile and Andy again two weeks later, they eat like starved wolves, and Joe casually mentions that the price for a new bed will be taken out of whatever deposit Andy paid. 

But at least there were no accidental deaths this time.


End file.
